Sapota (Chikoo) Ice cream

For the past several days I haven’t been cooking much. Either its been leftovers or take out (which in our town means pizza mostly) or its been a thrown together sandwich or just toast and egg or parantha and egg. I have been so busy with other stuff that I don’t feel like spending time in the kitchen. Nor have I been able to find time to spend on my laptop and blog. Or respond to comments. Or time to check everybody else’s blogs and what’s been cooking in their kitchen. Plus,I hardly get time to spend on pinterest or foodgawker (my daily food porn fixes!). Thank god for iPhone apps, I still am able to get a little of my daily dose of the two. But it’s not enough! I want more. No, I NEED more time on these two sites!

Its good that life has been busy, but I wish it didn’t take away from blogging (food related) time. Or maybe I just need to learn how to manage everything better.

Anyway, since I have not been cooking anything new, this is the best time to tend to the backlog of recipes I have in my folder. This ice cream is one such recipe that has been in my folders for a very long time.

In India, there is this brand of ice cream called Naturals. V loves their ice cream. The brand specializes in natural fresh fruit ice creams. I love their coconut ice cream and they have a custard apple and lychee ice cream which I love as well. They also carry this chikoo ice cream which I don’t remember trying (though I have definitely heard of it), but V loves it. So, when I saw a bag of frozen chikoos in the frozen aisle of the asian store in Phoenix, I had to buy it.

Now chikoo or sapota/Sapodilla (it’s english name) is a great fruit. It doesn’t look pretty at all though; it’s brown and furry. But it’s supposed to be really good for you. Ripened chikoo contains minerals like iron, potassium, copper and vitamins A and C and others like niacin, folate, etc. Thus they help in boosting immunity besides good skin and hair. It contains a good source of dietary fibre and therefore acts as a good remedy to curb constipation. Growing up I wasn’t too fond of the taste- didn’t hate it but didn’t love it either. I would eat it only because it was good for you.

The fruit has an exceptionally sweet, malty flavor and makes for a great ice cream flavor. There are many chikoo (sapota) ice cream recipes online, mostly by Indian bloggers, probably because it’s a fairly common fruit in India. Some recipes called for gelatin, some had eggs. I wanted a simple recipe. So I modified one of David Lebovitz recipes from his book The Perfect Scoop .

I loved this ice cream. It was light and refreshing- just how you want a fruity ice cream to be. Since I had a half used can of coconut milk I used that as well in the ice cream and I am glad I did. The hint of coconut elevated the whole ice cream to give it that refreshing tropical taste. It was just perfect and V and I really enjoyed it.

With some scoops I made ice cream floats for V and myself. And that too was a great summery treat.

In a saucepan, boil the chikoo/sapota with the water and sugar. Once the water boils, turn the heat down and let simmer for 10 minutes for the fruit to soften. Let cool.

Once cool, blend with coconut milk, heavy cream, almond extract in a blender. Process till smooth or if you like chunks of fruits, slightly chunky.

Refrigerate the pureed mixture for 1-2 hours and then freeze according to your ice cream maker's manufacturer's instructions. The last five minutes of the churning process, add the vodka, if you are using it. If you do not have an ice cream maker, follow the instructions for freezing here.

Freeze for a few hours or if you like soft serve consistency, serve immediately.

To make ice cream floats- in a glass or tumbler, add two scoops of ice cream and fill it up with chilled coke.

Beautiful photos of the ice cream. I am having an ice cream social on Saturday and my husband suggested I try this recipe – made it last night and he was licking the ice cream from the paddle! My only regret is that I didn’t make more for the party. Thanks for posting!